7-Emily G: Embracing my Coffee Table Relation

 

You see the world differently when you are short. Everything and everyone appears to be huge compared to what average "heighters"  are used to and the constant reminder of your height starts to feel like a direct attack. I often feel like a coffee table in a world filled with kitchen tables. 

I am five foot zero at the ripe age of sixteen and twelve days away from being seventeen, and I have been the same height since sixth grade, so, of course, I have some pent up anger toward a bodily function I was, I guess, blessed with. In today's society, short people are seen as an easy target for tease and sadly, being short for some people has become a personality trait. But, being short is not just about not being able to reach the top shelf or ride that ride at Six Flags or being lucky because "guys like short girls", it's more than that. 

My body is theoretically related to a coffee table. I am sometimes described as "compact" or "inferior to height", which actually hurts more than realized and it often makes me desire a life of a kitchen table; tall and untouchable. Short people are evidently more commonly derided mainly based on our appearance of not be intimidating and kitchen tables get to roam free without worry, but most of us short "heighters", or coffee tables, are capable of countering those ideals. 

A coffee table has cups placed without coasters, feet heavier than bricks, and little kids sitting on top of it, but it gets us back by being in the way of our toes when they are stubbed and our knees when we run into them. Short people are ridiculed for height they cannot control, called names that are meant to be a joke but words weigh heavy, and being perceived as a little kid who should not be taken seriously, but we get our revenge through not letting anyone take advantage of our tendency to be lost in the crowd. 

I actually stand out in a crowd through my confidence and humbleness of being low to the ground. I stopped letting people walk all over me and bully me into thinking being short is a bad thing. Being short should not be a weakness, as being tall is not a weakness. I am not saying I hate tall people, or kitchen tables, but I do hate how I feel surrounded by kitchen tables who joke more than praise, when all I want to do is be my coffee table in peace, in addition with coasters under cups and less bruised toes and knees. 

Word Count: 441